Troubled state of mines
Though the Turkish prime minister’s callous reaction to the country’s worst mining disaster has caused outrage in the streets, there is a sad underlying truth to his remarks.
While it was repugnant of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to downplay the catastrophe, claiming mining accidents are ‘‘ ordinary things’’ that happen in many countries, when the nation is grieving for over 400 miners either confirmed dead or missing, there is a sense of inevitability to such tragedies.
Sub- surface mining is a perilous practice – another accident is always lurking around the next corner.
New Zealand has of course not been immune. Scenes of anguish and anger from Soma, Turkey, rekindle the emotion of the Pike River Mine disaster in 2010. When considering the impact the loss of those 29 men had on the Greymouth community and the nation, it is almost incomprehensible to consider what losing 284 citizens ( and rising) will mean for Soma.
Grief has expectedly given way to anger, both at their indifferent, responsibility- dodging politicians and the poor safety conditions at Turkish mines.
The Soma mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, and no violations have been detected – but risk and uncertainty are inherent in any operation undertaken hundreds or thousands of metres below the earth’s surface. Practices can be refined, safety measures can be made more stringent, but the wellbeing of the workers can never be assured.
As a daughter and wife of two of the Soma victims has said of the daily life of a mining family: ‘‘ When they come [ home], even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen.’’
When one considers the frequency and devastation of mining, from the the Courrie` res mine disaster in northern France, 1906, which killed 1099; the Benxihu colliery accident in China, 1942, killing 1549; to the more recent Ulyanovskaya Russian mine disaster in 2007, 108 dead, it’s a wonder that political opposition to mining almost always focuses exclusively on the future environmental impact and and not its human toll.
Many may argue it is a cost that is sufferable due to the world’s dependency on fossil fuels, but it is a bleak assessment the families of miners lost at Soma are best spared from.
One more thing:
Manawatu Standard yesterday farewelled health reporter Kelsey Fletcher, who has returned to her home city of Auckland. Kelsey produced some cracking stories during her time with us and we wish her all the best.